/*
 * MethodType.java May 2007
 *
 * Copyright (C) 2007, Niall Gallagher <niallg@users.sf.net>
 *
 * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
 * You may obtain a copy of the License at
 *
 *     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
 * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
 * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
 * implied. See the License for the specific language governing
 * permissions and limitations under the License.
 */

package wx.xml.simpleframework.xml.core;

/**
 * The <code>MethodType</code> enumeration is used to specify a
 * set of types that can be used to classify Java Beans methods.
 * This creates three types for the get, is, and set methods. The
 * method types allow the <code>MethodScanner</code> to determine
 * what function the method has in creating a contact point for
 * the object. This also enables methods to be parsed correctly.
 *
 * @author Niall Gallagher
 * @see wx.xml.simpleframework.xml.core.MethodScanner
 * @see wx.xml.simpleframework.xml.core.MethodPart
 */
enum MethodType {

    /**
     * This is used to represent a method that acts as a getter.
     */
    GET(3),

    /**
     * This is used to represent a method that acts as a getter.
     */
    IS(2),

    /**
     * This is used to represent a method that acts as a setter.
     */
    SET(3),

    /**
     * This is used to represent a a normal method to be ignored.
     */
    NONE(0);

    /**
     * This is the length of the prefix the method type uses.
     */
    private int prefix;

    /**
     * Constructor for the <code>MethodType</code> object. This is
     * used to create a method type specifying the length of the
     * prefix. This allows the method name to be parsed easily.
     *
     * @param prefix this is the length of the method name prefix
     */
    private MethodType(int prefix) {
        this.prefix = prefix;
    }

    /**
     * This is used to acquire the prefix for the method type. The
     * prefix allows the method name to be extracted easily as it
     * is used to determine the character range that forms the name.
     *
     * @return this returns the method name prefix for the type
     */
    public int getPrefix() {
        return prefix;
    }
}